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Fixed the link, thanks!

Huh - I've never heard of an SO2 hydrometer, I have no idea how that would work. See here for discussion of SO2 testing methods. You are right that some SO2 testing apparatus can be expensive but there are cheaper alternatives. Ripper method basically requires a burette and flask along with a...

Super important for producing good quality wines. Here is a good introduction to SO2 and why we use it. Good choice - I also bought one of those cheap pH pens, it worked once but in the end it turned out to be a piece of junk...

Data is good! By residual sugar, do you mean measuring brix/SG? That is commonly done before and during fermentation, whereas measuring actual residual sugar (typically glucose + fructose, at least for grape wines) is a more complicated exercise. For your starting must, I would measure brix/SG...

I'm doing this right now, I would say that for white wine it may be preferable to a bucket. I have a ~3+ gallon batch fermenting in a 5 gallon carboy. Once it's done I'm going to rack into a 3 gallon carboy for aging, with any left over wine in a small vessel for topping.

For sure... we use this at the winery where i work, unfortunately i think the stem is too tall to use it in a half barrel. I am leaning towards steaming for the reasons you mention.

How does that work (ie losing oak flavor by hot water washing)? I've worked with a winemaker who wouldn't dream of steaming a new barrel for fear of losing flavor, and another who has no such qualms. And it's very relevant to me since I just emptied my 110L barrel (new last season) and need to...

For sure... I note that Jack Keller has 2 recipes, one with just 'yeast nutrient' and the other supplemented with white grape juice concentrate. Not sure which one you're using, @Ess-Sea vineyard ? I am in the middle of fermenting my Elderflower sham-pagne. This year I'm using a hefty...

No experience with lilac, but I do make elderflower wine. The flavor can be tricky - even if you love the perfume of the flower it can be overbearing if you use too much. I've taken to making a syrup first, that way you can get a sense of how much flavor will be in the final wine. Plus if you...

What would be the downside of leaving overnight (inverted so that it thoroughly drains)? I don't think it's going to get any sort of contamination over that timeframe...

That seems very little time to let the barrel cool. Is there any reason you can't clean the barrel the day before? My protocol - Hot water wash (Moog, which I guess is equivalent to your Aqua Blaster) until it runs clear 5 minutes steam (more only if there is a known problem with the barrel)...

...And I just found this procedue for making a wine kit into sparkling wine: https://brewerylane.com/wine/sparkling-wine-champagne-method They don't do any acclimatization of the yeast, just rehydrate and stir it into the wine... 😳 Not sure I would be brave enough to try that, but I assume...

Cold stabilization, I would say close to 100%, and the traditional way to do this is by chilling to slightly below 0C for a week or more ('cold crash'). But there are some recent advances in cold stabilization with additives (notably KPA, potassium polyaspartate), which offer a potentially...

I have a couple of options, either or both of which I'm happy to share in detail - let me know what sounds more useful... For my 2022 sparkling (blanc de noir) wine I did a fairly elaborate tirage protocol, very hands-on for the first day and taking another 2-3 days of additions to reach the...

Honestly, I think it's really hard... The number of commercial wines (of any color and style) that are suitablefor aging 20+ years is really quite small, and that is for professional producers with access to more resources than home winemakers. That being said, I would vote for sparkling wine...

Matchstick is a characteristic indicator of reductive nature in wine; it's one of those faults that can be regarded as a positive in some circumstances (eg some styles of chardonnay). Jamie Goode has more to say about it here. I also recommend his book 'Flawless' for a discussion of various...

If you're not adding more yeast before bottling then I would probably go with option 3. The advantage of this approach is that you already have yeast that are adapted to your wine. You'll ideally want to add sugar and bottle as soon as it goes dry so that your yeast population doesn't decline...

3 hours (not to mention 12 hours) is asking a lot of Go-Ferm without adding any additional must/nutrient. From Scott Labs' yeast rehydration protocol: Do not let yeast stand in rehydration water longer than 30 minutes without adding juice/must or populations will decline I've always used some...

So are you planning to add more yeast at bottling? The process I described above was for wine that was still actively fermenting when I bottled it. Granted, racking by itself will not result in a sterile product - but if you're going to let it ferment dry (and particularly if you're going to...

I racked off about 1/2 way through fermentation (largely to get rid of the flowers and lemon zest) then just bottled when SG/brix reached what I thought was a good range. I believe I bottled directly from the fermentation carboy but left any gross lees in the bottom. It's not a bad idea to rack...